In Search of a Song

In Search of a Song is a 1971 album by country singer and songwriter, Tom T. Hall. The album includes eleven songs based on Hall's observations of rural life. It became a number eight top country album and the opening track, "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" became a number one country single.

In Search of a Song
Studio album by
Tom T. Hall
Released1971
RecordedMay 1971, Mercury Custom Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee, except tracks 1 & 9, recorded March 26, 1971
GenreCountry music, Progressive country
LabelMercury
ProducerJerry Kennedy
Tom T. Hall chronology
One Hundred Children
(1970)		 In Search of a Song
(1971)		 We All Got Together and...
(1972)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Allmusic[1]
Christgau's Record GuideA[2]
Rolling Stone(favorable)[3]

History

In Search of a Song was released amid Hall's years with Mercury Records (1969–1977) during which he released one or more albums each year (see Tom T. Hall discography). It is the first full album to result from one of Hall's "song-hunting" trips to Kentucky. Hall was known to make periodic visits to rural Kentucky. He didn't actually write songs on these trips so much as take notes and gather raw material that he would later write about. He typically traveled backroads by car, sometimes with a photographer, to find inspiration by observing and visiting with the common people of his home state. On this particular trip, Hall traveled with music journalist William "Bill" Neuel Littleton of Nashville, TN. Littleton took the photographs that appear on the album's front and back cover, subsequently writing the album's liner notes.[4]

Track listing

All songs by Tom T. Hall

  1. "The Year That Clayton Delaney Died" – 2:42
  2. "Who's Gonna Feed Them Hogs" – 2:35
  3. "Trip to Hyden" – 2:52
  4. "Tulsa Telephone Book" – 2:21
  5. "It Sure Can Get Cold in Des Moines" – 2:53
  6. "The Little Lady Preacher" – 2:53
  7. "L.A. Blues" – 2:40
  8. "Kentucky, February 27, 1971" – 3:16
  9. "A Million Miles to the City" – 2:51
  10. "Second Handed Flowers" – 2:55
  11. "Ramona's Revenge" – 2:53

Personnel

Musicians

Production
  • Jerry Kennedy – Producer
  • Recorded May 1971, Mercury Custom Recording Studio, Nashville, Tennessee, except tracks 1 & 9, recorded March 26, 1971

Charts
yearchartpeak
1971U.S. Top Country8
1971U.S. 200137

Releases
yearformatlabelcatalog #
1971LPMercury822500-1
MercurySR-61350
cassetteMercury822500-4
2005reissue CDMercury
2005compilation CDHux71
2006remastered CDHip-O Select000424002

References
  1. McCall, Michael, "Review: In Search of a Song", AllMusic
  2. Christgau, Robert (1981). "Consumer Guide '70s: H". Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies. Ticknor & Fields. ISBN 089919026X. Retrieved February 24, 2019 – via robertchristgau.com.
  3. Cromelin, Richard "Review: Tom T. Hall, In Search of a Song", Rolling Stone, January 6, 1972 (link via rocksbackpages.com)
  4. Wolfe, Charles, K., Kentucky Country, University of Kentucky Press, 1982, p.146
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